adventure circle

Hey, guess what, we had another storm yesterday, surprise, surprise! But this time it was just snow, and only a few inches, so that makes us all happy -- kids can sled and build snowmen, I can work, horses can walk, life is good!

In any case, what I really wanted to write about today is our new Adventure Circle, that I mentioned I was working on in another post or two. Inspired by other Enki Homeschoolers (including Jennifer at Tree of Life Homeschool, who blogged about her wonderful adventure circle), I decided to ditch our formal circle activities for something with more of a storyline and an adventure feel. I'm actually surprised I didn't try this sooner -- I knew other folks were doing it, and it's such a natural for my fairly dramatic self, especially since I love the rhythmic feel when activities naturally flow into each other. So I worked on a text to tie together our movement activities, and here's what I came up with: (the songs and verses are mostly from the Enki Education Kindergarten Movement curriculum, and I indicate what the target type of movement is for each song)

(call to circle): Round And Round (2 times)

Nar (narration): One day we woke up and looked out the window, and it was snowing!

(fingerplay): Snowflake (3 times)

Nar: We wanted to go out to play in the snow, so we jumped out of bed and got dressed.

(base senses): Jumpin' Josie, first 2 verses (Jumping, Dressing -- mime)

Nar: Then we put on our coats, but we had trouble catching the sleeves

: Jumpin' Josie, 3rd verse (spinning -- miming trying to catch sleeves)

Nar: We finally caught our sleeves, but while spinning we dropped our mittens and had to find them.

:Jumpin' Josie, 4th verse (crawling)
(mime finding mittens & putting them on, dee dum dee dum verse)
Last verse (jumping)

Nar: At last we were all dressed and ready to go outside! When we stepped out the door, we saw that it was still snowing.

(base sense, proprioceptive): Winter White (1st verse, 3 times)

Nar: The snow was getting SO deep! Before we could play, we would have to shovel the walk.
(mime shoveling)
Oh no! I broke my boot! We needed to take it to the Cobbler so he could fix it. But the Cobbler lives all the way on the other side of town. I knew a short-cut, so we cut through the fields and down the big hill to get there.

(mid-line, recorder practice): Recorder Song (winter version)
(move down hall on ta-ta verse)

Nar: We were almost to the big hill when we noticed how pretty the snow looked on the evergreen trees.

(mid-line): Oh, Evergreen (3 times)

Nar: As we approached the top of the big hill, we were starting to wonder if it would snow forever!

(fingerplay): Snow Falling (1st verse, 2 times)
(move slowly into kids' room during the first 2 verses)
: 3rd verse one time (pointing to kids sledding on the "hill" (bed))

Nar: Sliding down the hill would get us to the Cobbler faster. So we borrowed a sled from one of the kids, and away we went down the big hill!
(climb up into loft, "slide" down quilt to ground, continuing on to closed spare bedroom door)
Wheeeeee!!!!!
The sled took us all the way to the Cobbler's front door.
(knock on door, open and go in)

(mid-line): Cobbler (winter version)

Nar: With my boots fixed, it was time to head home again. We bid farewell to the Cobbler
(waving, "good-bye! Thank you!")
and began the long walk home. We didn't get far, when our neighbor came along on his sleigh and offered us a ride!

(skipping around house): Jingle Bells

Nar: we got home lickety-split on the sleigh. We thanked our neighbor
(waving, "Thank you!")
and went inside to warm up and practice our alphabet

(academic fingerplay): Alphabet Verse

(closing): The Sun Is Rising


The kids have really taken to the Adventure Circle. Zoo Boy is still a bit mesmerized by the story, so isn't always participating in all of the verse activities yet, but is starting to get into the groove of it. He at least stays with us for the entire script. J thinks it's a "great adventure!" and looks forward to it each morning. The plan is to keep the Adventure Circle the same for the first couple of weeks or so, then start making small changes/alterations in the story as time goes by, swapping out some activities for others, meeting different people/creatures along the way, etc.

It's going to be an exciting, adventure-filled winter!